[pct-l] Thru-riding, north to south

[Edward Anderson]

Dorian,

You are GREATLY underestimating the difficulty of thru-riding the PCT. Over the 
years many horses and mules have suffered and sometimes died of colic, have been 
seriously injured, and have fallen to their deaths on the PCT. In 2009 two 
riders started the PCT from the border of Mexico. Both had accidents. One horse 
fell 50' off the trail and was badly injured. The other rider, sadly, killed 
both horses when they fell several hundred feet. The rider was rescued by 
helicopter - it was her third rescue. There are some parts that you could ride 
safely. I have ridden more than 2000 miles of it and have been to both borders. 
No colic. No injuries. I hope to be able to finish the Sierra part this summer.

I am a member of the Long Riders Guild and have ridden over 46,000 miles in 
nearly 29 years.  At the request of the Guild I have written an article for 
their website  on the subject of advice to equestrians wishing to ride on the 
PCT. I suggest that you should start your research by reading it at:       
thelongridersguild.com-advice/pct

We now have a stockmans forum on Postholer.  You can access the forum and other 
information by typing in:         edandersonpct     

I don't know of any feed stores on or near the PCT. You will definitely need a 
truck and trailer - and perhaps someone to meet you at road crossings. 


In several places it would be safer to not bring a second horse. I hope that you 
realize that not all horses are equally capable of being ridden on the PCT. I 
have written about what you should be looking for in a horse.

You need to do a LOT of research if you are seriously considering riding a lot 
of miles on the PCT. 

MendoRider


 



________________________________
From: Dorian <dorian.bannier at gmail.com>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Mon, May 9, 2011 10:46:54 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Thru-riding, north to south

Hello everybody, I'm new there, I just subscribed today.

My name is Dorian, and I will be coming in USA in one month to try to
thru-ride from north to south. I'm a very experienced rider, and I decided
some times ago to have a 6 months break to do such a trip. To be honest, I
did not know about the PCT before yesterday, but it seems to fit perfectly
well what I want to do. Of course, if some parts appear to me to difficult
for the horses or for me, I'll just find an other way around these parts.

I don't want to bother you, but I would like to ask few questions :

- Firstly, I will need to buy the two horses I will need to do this trip. If
any of you know a good ranch or farm near the north of the trail that would
allow me to gather these two horses and take a week or two to train them a
bit and get to know them, that would be wonderful.
- It's a bit the same problem : is it easy to access the beginning of the
PCT without following a big road for hours? I would prefer to access it
directly riding rather than having to pay for the transportation of the two
horses.
- I read that there are few feed stores near the trails. Is it still
possible to make the whole trip (or most of it, like I said, I'm willing to
ditch from the trail for some parts if needed) without a supply angel?

Thank you all.

Dorian
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